Hairpiece with attachment rings and heating kit for attaching hairpiece

ABSTRACT

A hairpiece assembly for adding body and/or length to the user&#39;s real hair. The hairpiece assembly includes a plurality of natural or synthetic strands of hair arranged in parallel and forming a first edge; and an elongated strip attached to the first edge to hold the plurality of strands together. The hairpiece assembly further includes a plurality of spaced-apart rubber rings attached to the elongated strip to form a hairpiece assembly; and each of the rubber rings having an opening for receiving therethrough the user&#39;s real hair for attaching the hairpiece assembly to the user&#39;s real hair, using a crimping and heating tool to flatten the rubber rings and the user&#39;s real hair to join them so that the flat rubber rings grip and hold the user&#39;s real hair.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a hair weave or wiglet having attachment meansin order to add further body and/or length to the user's real hair. Moreparticularly, the attachment means is in the form of eyelet ring rubberfasteners being connected to the user's real hair for extending thelength of the user's hair.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Hair weaves, hairpieces or wiglets having various structures are wellknown in the prior art. Hair weaves and wiglets are used to add furtherbulk and/or body to the user's real hair due to the user's hair beingvery fine or thin or having loss of hair because of disease,chemotherapy or age longevity. Prior art methods for attachingsupplemental hair to human hair have used thermoplastic glue in order tofuse the supplemental hair bundles with strands of human hair. Once thethermoplastic glue hardens, the glue becomes an irritant to the humanscalp, and is difficult, if not impossible to remove the hardened gluefrom the human hair.

There remains a need for a hairpiece assembly, a hair weave or wigletthat is particularly suited for the easy insertion and incorporation ofthe hair weave or wiglet within the user's real hair in order toincrease the length, bulk, and/or body of the user's real hair.Additionally, the hairpiece assembly, hair weave or wiglet must havesimple attachment means such as eyelet ring fasteners made of rubber,not glue, to easily attach and fasten to the user's real hair in one ormore multiple layers, after the rubber eyelet ring fasteners are heatedand melted to a flat configuration by a crimping and heating tool.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

Wigs, wiglets, hairpieces, hair bands and hair weaves having variousdesigns, configurations, structures and materials of construction havebeen disclosed in the prior art.

For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,647,384 and 5,337,763 to HABAR, et aldisclose a headband for mounting hair pieces. The hairpiece includes aflexible base and hair strands attached to an extending outwardly fromthe top side of the base. The hairpiece is attached to the user's headby an elongated strip of fastening material, such as “VELCRO™”. Thisprior art patent does not disclose or teach the structure of the presentinvention.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,820,625 to PARK discloses a method of attachingsupplemental hair to natural human hair which begins with selecting aplurality of strands of human hair growing from a scalp. A supplementalhair bundle includes a plurality of supplemental hair strands which havebeen glued to one another at a glued section by thermoplastic glue. Ajoint is formed between the glued section of the supplemental hairbundle and the selected plurality of strands of human hair. The gluedsection is heated and is fused using a heating element of an applicator.The heating element may be a heated jaw having a heating channel shapedto receive the glued section of the hair bundle. A kneading jaw inopposing relationship to the heating jaw may be used to clamp the humanhair and the supplemental hair bundle to mix the heated glue into thestrands of human hair. This prior art patent does not disclose or teachthe structure or method of the present invention.

U.S. Pat. Nos. RE34,186 and 4,804,003 to MOEN disclose a combined headcovering and wiglet. The head covering is combined with a hank of hair.The hank of hair is secured to a strip of cloth, and a “VELCRO™”, stripis attached to the cloth strip. This prior art patent does not discloseor teach the structure of the present invention.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,841 to WON discloses an assembled wig or wig kithaving a front wig portion having a plurality of hook-type fasteners(VELCRO™) and side links, and a back wig portion having a plurality oflinks and side hook-type fasteners (VELCRO™) secured to the fastenersand links wherein the front and back wig portions have different hairstyles and colors. This prior art patent does not disclose or teach thestructure of the present invention.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,470 to WILSON discloses an attachments means forsecuring wigs, wiglets, hair pieces to the head of the user. Theattachment means are in the form of hook and loop fasteners (VELCRO™)which are designed with the wig, wiglet, or hair piece to secure thehair piece more firmly to the user's head while at the same timeaffording increased comfort to the user. This prior art patent does notdisclose or teach the structure of the present invention.

None of the aforementioned prior art patents teach or disclose ahairpiece assembly, hair weave or wiglet having attachment means in theform of rubber eyelet ring fasteners only for incorporating one or moreof the hairpiece assemblies within the user's real hair.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide ahairpiece assembly that is particularly suited for the easy insertionand incorporation of the hairpiece within the user's real hair in orderto increase the length, bulk, and/or body of the user's real hair.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a hairpieceassembly having a simple attachment means in the form of rubber eyeletring fasteners within an elongated strip in which to easily attach andfasten to the user's real hair in one or more multiple hairpiece layers.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a hairpieceassembly having different hair colors selected from the group consistingof black, brown, blonde, red, auburn, grey and white.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a hairpieceassembly having a particular length of hair for a given elongatedfastener strip, such as a 3 inch length, a 6 inch length, a 9 inchlength or a 12 inch length.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a particularlength of a given elongated fastener strip, such as a 4 inch length, a 6inch length, an 8 inch length or a 10 inch length.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a hairpieceassembly, hair weave or wiglet that can be mass produced in an automatedand economical manner and is readily affordable by the user.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a hairpieceassembly for adding body and/or length to the user's real hair. Thehairpiece assembly includes a plurality of natural or synthetic strandsof hair arranged in parallel and forming a first edge; and an elongatedstrip attached to the first edge to hold the plurality of strandstogether. The hairpiece assembly further includes a plurality ofspaced-apart rubber rings attached to the elongated strip to form ahairpiece assembly; and each of the rubber rings having an opening forreceiving therethrough the user's real hair for attaching the hairpieceassembly to the user's real hair using a crimping and heating tool toflatten the rubber ring and the user's real hair to join them so thatthe flat rubber ring grips and holds the user's real hair.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further objects, features, and advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent upon the consideration of the following detaileddescription of the presently-preferred embodiment when taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side perspective view of the hairpiece assembly of thepreferred embodiment of the present invention showing the majorcomponent parts of the hairpiece assembly being assembled and ready foroperational use;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the hairpiece assembly of the presentinvention showing a single lock of real hair being connected to a rubbereyelet ring fastener using a hair fastener instrument;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the hairpiece assembly of the presentinvention showing the single lock of real hair being inserted and pulledthrough the rubber eyelet ring fastener by the hair fastener instrument;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the hairpiece assembly of the presentinvention showing the single lock of real hair inserted and pulledthrough the rubber eyelet ring fastener by the hair fastener instrument;

FIG. 5 is a side perspective view of the hairpiece assembly of thepresent invention showing the major component parts of the hairpieceassembly being attached to the user's hair and in an assembled stateready for operational use;

FIG. 6 is a side perspective view of the hairpiece assembly of thepresent invention showing the major component parts of the hairpieceassembly being gripped, attached, heated, crimped and joined to the touser's real hair and in assembled state ready for operational use;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the hairpiece assembly of thepresent invention showing the heated and crimped rubber eyelet ringfastener attached to the user's real hair using a crimping and heatingtool;

FIG. 7A is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the hairpiece assembly ofthe present invention showing the crimping and heating tool in anoperational mode for processing an open rubber eyelet ring fastenerhaving a plurality of hair strands therein;

FIG. 7B is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the hairpiece assembly ofthe present invention showing the crimping and heating tool in anoperational mode for flattening and, crimping a closed rubber eyeletring fastener having a plurality of hair strands therein;

FIG. 8 is a side perspective view of the hairpiece assembly of thepresent invention showing the hairpiece assembly fully attached to theuser's real hair; and

FIG. 9 is a side perspective view of the hairpiece assembly of thepresent invention showing the crimped rubber eyelet ring fastener beingmelted and removed from the user's real hair using the crimping andheating tool.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The hairpiece assembly 10 and its component parts of the preferredembodiment of the present invention are represented in detail by FIGS. 1through 9 of the drawings. The hairpiece assembly 10 is used for theinsertion and incorporation within the user's real hair 12 in order toincrease the length, bulk and/or body of the user's real hair 12, asshown in FIGS. 2, 5 and 6 of the drawings. Hairpiece assembly 10includes an elongated fastener strip member 30 along a first edge 34 forholding a plurality of synthetic hair fibers 20 in place, as depicted inFIGS. 1 to 5 of the drawings. A plurality of eyelet ring fasteners 32are incorporated within the elongated attachment strip member 30. Theeyelet ring fasteners 32 are connected to the elongated fastener strip30 by fastening means, such as stitching 38, sewing, stapling, epoxygluing, laser bonding or combinations thereof. The eyelet ring fasteners32 are for attaching the elongated fastener strip 30 to the user's realhair 12. The elongated fastener strip 30 is a single layer of material36 made from a flexible synthetic or natural material selected from thegroup consisting of cotton, rayon, polyester, nylon, human hair orcombinations thereof.

Ring fasteners 32 are spaced apart a length of ½ inch to 1½ inches alongthe longitudinal axis of elongated fastener strip 30, and are preferablyspaced apart a length of 1 inch along the longitudinal axis of elongatedfastener strip 30. Ring fasteners 32 are made from rubber material thateasily flattens into a flat crimped configuration F when heated using acrimping and heating tool 42 (See FIG. 7B) to join them so that the flatrubber ring grips and holds the user's real hair 12.

The hairpiece assembly 10 can be made into different hair colorsselected from the group consisting of black, brown, blonde, red, auburn,grey and white. Additionally, the hairpiece assembly 10 can be made intoa particular length of hair 20 for a given elongated fastener strip 30,such as a 3 inch length, a 6 inch length, a 9 inch length or a 12 inchlength. Also, a hairpiece assembly 10 can be cut into various sizelengths of the elongated fastener strip 30 such as a 4 inch length, a 6inch length, an 8 inch length or a 10 inch length. The user canincorporate into their real hair 12 one or more of the cut elongatedfastener strips 30 to increase the length, bulk, and/or body of theuser's hair 12, as shown in FIG. 5 of the drawings.

It should be understood that hairpiece assembly 10 may be cut into shortlengths, such as 1″ to 2″ inches wide and attached to the user's realhair for adding highlights, with different colors, to the user's realhair 12.

Further, it is understood that the crimping and heating tool 42 includesa conventional heating coil 44 connected to an electrical cord 46 andplug 48, as shown in FIG. 7 of the drawings.

METHOD OF OPERATION

In operation, the hairpiece assembly 10 of the preferred embodiment ofthe present invention is readily put into operational use by cuttingelongated fastener strips 30 into desired lengths (3″ or 6″ or 9″) andsimply placing and attaching one or more of the cut elongated fastenerstrips 30 into the real hair 12 of the user's head 14, as shown in FIGS.2 to 5 of the drawings.

The user initially takes a lock or a portion 18 of his or her hair 12,and lifts it up in a vertical position by a brush, a comb 16, or theuser's hand, such that a partial parting of hair 12 occurs along aportion of the user's scalp 13. The user then places the hairpieceassembly 10 and elongated fastener strip 30 facing inward towards theuser's scalp 13, so that the eyelet ring rubber fasteners 32 of theelongated fastener strip 30 may be attached to the user's real hair 12by a hair threading instrument or tool 40. The user then grips strandsof real hair 12 with tool 40 and uses tool 40 to pull the strands ofgripped hair through rings 32. The user continues this process untileach ring 32 has hair 12 threaded through it, as shown in FIGS. 2 to 5.

The user then crimps and heats each rubber eyelet ring fastener 32 intoa flattened configuration F (see FIGS. 6, 7A and 7B) using a crimpingand heating instrument or tool 42 in order to fixedly attach the user'sreal hair 12 and the flat rubber fastener 32 to the elongated fastenerstrip 30 so as to attach the hairpiece assembly 10 within and to theuser's real hair 12. The user then allows the lifted hair portion 18 ofthe user's real hair 12 to fall back into place and layer itself tocover and hide fastener strip 30, as shown in FIG. 8 of the drawings. Inthis manner, more body and/or length is added to the user's real hair12.

The aforementioned step is repeated as many times as the user wants tocut and insert additional hairpiece assemblies 10 into the user's realhair 12 at various locations for adding further length, bulk, and/orbody to the user's real hair 12, as depicted in FIG. 6 of the drawings.As shown in FIGS. 6, 8 to 9, the user can insert a plurality of the cuthairpiece assemblies 10, 10′, 10″ and 10′″, one above the other at anydesired location in order to increase the length and fullness of theuser's hair, or to create a new hair style. The incorporation of one ormore cut hairpiece assemblies 10 into the user's real hair 12 affordsthe user many different hair styles, as shown in FIG. 8.

At any point in time the user can remove the hairpiece assembly 10 byusing the crimping and heating tool 42 to simply melt away and removeeach of the crimped rubber eyelet ring fasteners 32 along the elongatedfastener strip 30, and thereby remove the hairpiece assembly 10 from theuser's real hair 12.

ADVANTAGES OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

Accordingly, an advantage of the present invention is that it providesfor a hairpiece assembly that is particularly suited for the easyinsertion and incorporation of the hairpiece within the user's real hairin order to increase the length, bulk, and/or body of the user's realhair.

Another advantage of the present invention is that it provides for ahairpiece assembly having a simple attachment means in the form of arubber loop/eyelet ring fastener in which to easily attach and fasten tothe user's real hair in one or more multiple hairpiece layers.

Another advantage of the present invention is that it provides for ahairpiece assembly having different hair colors selected from the groupconsisting of black, brown, blonde, red, auburn, grey and white.

Another advantage of the present invention is that it provides for ahairpiece assembly having a particular length of hair for a givenelongated fastener stip, such as a 3 inch length, a 6 inch length, a 9inch length or a 12 inch length.

Another advantage of the present invention is that it provides for aparticular length a given elongated fastener strip, such as a 4 inchlength, an 8 inch length or a 10 inch length.

A further advantage of the present invention is that it provides for ahairpiece assembly, hair weave or wiglet that can be mass produced in anautomated and economical manner and is readily affordable by the user.

A latitude of modification, change, and substitution is intended in theforegoing disclosure, and in some instances, some features of theinvention will be employed without a corresponding use of otherfeatures. Accordingly, it is appropriate that the appended claims beconstrued broadly and in a manner consistent with the spirit and scopeof the invention herein.

1. A hairpiece assembly for adding body and/or length to the user's realhair, comprising: a) a plurality of natural or synthetic strands of hairarranged in parallel and forming a first edge; b) an elongated stripattached to said first edge to hold said plurality of strands together;c) a plurality of spaced-apart rubber rings attached to said elongatedstrip to form a hairpiece assembly; and d) each of said rubber ringshaving an opening for receiving there through the user's real hair forattaching said hairpiece assembly to the user's real hair using acrimping and heating tool to flatten said rubber rings and the user'sreal hair to join them so that said flat rubber rings grip and hold theuser's real hair.
 2. A hairpiece assembly in accordance with claim 1,wherein said elongated strip is a single layer of material made from aflexible material selected from the group consisting of cotton, rayon,polyester, nylon, natural hair or combinations thereof.
 3. A hairpieceassembly in accordance with claim 1, wherein said rubber rings areattached to said elongated strip by stitching, sewing, epoxy gluing,laser bonding, stapling or combinations thereof.
 4. A hairpiece assemblyin accordance with claim 1, wherein said synthetic hair fibers have afiber color selected from the group consisting of black, brown, blonde,blue, red, auburn, grey and white.
 5. A hairpiece assembly in accordancewith claim 1, wherein said plurality of strands have a length in therange of 3 inches to 18 inches.
 6. A hairpiece assembly in accordancewith claim 1, wherein said elongated strip has a length in the range of1 inch to 20 inches.
 7. A hairpiece assembly in accordance with claim 1,wherein said plurality of spaced-apart rubber rings are equally spaced alongitudinal distance in the range of ½ inch to 1½ inches.
 8. Ahairpiece assembly in accordance with claim 1, wherein said plurality ofspaced-apart rubber rings are each equally spaced a longitudinaldistance of one inch.
 9. A method of securing a hairpiece assembly tothe head of the user for styling the user's hair, comprising the stepsof: a) providing a plurality of natural or synthetic strands of hairarranged in parallel and forming a first edge; b) providing an elongatedstrip attached to said first edge for holding the plurality of strandstogether; c) attaching a plurality of spaced-apart rubber rings to saidelongated strip for forming a hairpiece assembly each of said rubberrings having an opening; d) weaving the user's real hair through saidopenings of said plurality of rubber rings on the elongated strip usinga pulling instrument; and e) crimping and heating said ring openings onthe elongated strip using a crimping and heating instrument to join saidrubber rings and the user's real hair to grip and hold the user's realhair for preventing removal of the user's real hair from said rubberrings on the elongated strip.
 10. A method of securing a hairpieceassembly to the head of the user in accordance with claim 9, wherein thestep of: a) cutting the elongated strip into one or more cut lengths forincorporating into different locations on the user's existing real hair;and b) connecting each of said cut lengths having the plurality ofstrands, to different locations on the user's existing real hair tocreate a hair style having more body, fullness and length compared tothe real hair on the user's head.
 11. A method of securing a hairpieceassembly to the head of the user in accordance with claim 10, whereinthe step of connecting includes lifting the user's real hair to expose aportion of the user's scalp and real hair, and then attaching one ofsaid cut lengths to the user's real hair.
 12. A method of securing ahairpiece assembly to the head of the user in accordance with claim 9,further including the step of removing the elongated strip having rubberrings thereon using a crimping and heating instrument to melt away andremove said rubber rings to release the user's real hair.